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Where have I been??!?

It has been a while since my last blog post, and for that I apologise. But then again, no I don’t!

It’s been a while, because I have been insanely busy. So much so, that when I get a moment to relax, the last thing I want to do is to sit down and write a blog post! (Sorry about that…)

So, what have I been up to? Well, I was given the chance to cover a colleagues absence until a permanent replacement was appointed. I decided to take the opportunity, even though it meant working full-time for 5 weeks. Now, when I say full-time, what I mean is TEACHING full-time, while still covering everything else I usually do in my 5 non-teaching days per week. I have to say – it damn near killed me! It’s a long time since I taught in schools every day from Monday to Friday, and it re-confirmed my belief that I really don’t want to go back to doing it full-time. Which makes the IT side of my life even more important.

And that is a good thing, because in the past 4 months or so, I have never been busier. I’ve had trips all over Scotland, from Aberdeen to the borders, plus a very pleasant trip to Sheffield. I’ve worked with a number of hats on, including Charanga, Finale, Cubase, Sibelius, plus of course my own LoNoteMusic fedora. All good, and with no sign of it slowing down in the new year, that can only be a good thing too! I have also been speaking to a training venue in Helensburgh about providing Music Technology and iPad training for them, so watch this space in 2017 for more news on that!

Musically, it’s been an interesting term. The fantastic pupils of East Dunbartonshire continue to surprise and delight me, and the Christmas Concerts with the EDC Concert Band and at Bearsden Academy were fantastic events at which the pupils excelled themselves and were a true credit to everyone who knows them.
But I suppose the big news musically, is that I am no longer the conductor of the YMCA Glasgow Wind Orchestra. That is because that ensemble no longer exists. We have now extracated ourselves from the YMCA/YPeople organisation and are “going it alone” under our new name – the City of Glasgow Wind Orchestra (CoGWO). We had our inaugural concert at Christmas, which went very well, and importantly, we had some excellent conversations with members of the audience which will have a very positive impact on us as we move into 2017.

So that’s you up to date with why I have been so quiet on here in the past few months. What’s coming up in 2017? Well, I will be spending a major part of January up in Aberdeenshire doing a YMI project, there’s a string possibility of some more AVID work on the horizon, plus of course teaching away (for 2 days only!) in EDC, and thoroughly enjoying conducting the fabulous CoGWO!

My New Year resolution is to be more active on here and on Twitter (1 post per day is the target on there, maybe one per week on here). Hopefully then, I will be able to share some thoughts about stuff, rather than simply bring you up to date with my various comings and goings!!